love, war, and wings
by The Demoness6
Summary: max has wanted to be in the war all her life. When her brother goes MIA, she is determined to find him. Then Fang comes along introducing her to an underground conspiracy that changes her intentions. what side is she really on? the good side, as she has allways thought, or the bad?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

I opened the letter and read it out loud. It read:

_Family of Iggy Batchelder,_

_We regret to inform you that your heroic family member as become MIA in battle. Updates on the situation will be delivered monthly._

_We send our dearest apologies._

I couldn't speak. I looked around and saw that angel was the only one not upset. She was too young to understand about the war. Nudge was silently crying, Gazzy was crying into his hands- he never liked anyone to see him cry- Mom was holding her hand to her mouth and Dad looked as shocked and as devistated as I felt. Gazzy had it the worst. he and Iggy were best friends and did evrything together. Until iggy turned thirteen.

The war had started fifty years ago. No one knows why. All we know is that seventeen years ago a branch of The Force began a program where they genetically altered humans so that they could use us in the war. We were a few of the first. Then we were aranged into "familys" by seperating out those who were altered with diferent DNA, then asigning them to "parents."

Ten years ago was when they started to lower the age of entry into The Force. Then they made it required to join the war efforts at a certain age. At this point, males enter at thirteen, girls at fifteen. I'll be going in two years. I've been looking forward to it since forever, now even moreso now that I have the motivation of finding my brother.

And if your wondering what added DNA me(Max), Nudge, Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy have, here it is:

We are only 98% human, the other two percent is avian, meaning we have wings.

_Two years later..._

I kick my new victim to the ground and spin around to the next enemy that came up from behind me. I throw a punch but he dodges, knowing this move i've held up my uther fist and as he leans in front of it i land it square in his nose. He stumbles back clutching it then conks me with the butt of his sniper. He ran out of ammo not too long ago. I kick him in the stomach and drop below his counter kick and spin on my hands, knocking him from his feet. He falls and I grab his gun and hammer it down on his head. I take a look around at my handywork, then sense movement behind me. I whip around and run at the wounded attacker. he dodges, and grabs me from behind. I kick his shin, hard and he loosens his grip. then I get my arms free and elbow him in his stomach as he falls back. I face him as he clutches his stomach and punch his face. I dont stop. I punch until i feel his skull crack and he falls and i kick him straight above his heart and reach down to feel his pulse: dead.

**_Congradulations, _**a voice says as everything goes pixely_, **you have completed the combat course of your final examination. please procede to the shooting range.**_ I remove my simulation headset and walk out of the blue room. _Iggy, here i come, _I think. S_oon ill be and battle, and soon ill find you._

**see you soon! ill be back so you can read the rest, most of you have probably noticed Fang's absence, but i have a plan don't worry, he'll show up in the next chapter or the one after that :Peace ;out my peepslesislites!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Soooo?" my best friend Ella asked excitedly

"Rocked it!" I replied, high fiving her.

_**All testies to mess hall for final placement.** _the voice blared. "Got to go, luck!" Ella said somewhat less happily.

_what's her problem? _I wasnt until i was already seated that i realised i never asked her about her final examination.

**_aerial team: david crest, harrold kaddey, Ella__ martinez..._ **I didn't need to hear anymore. Ella has allways wanted to be able to fly like me so it wasn't a suprise that she wanted to be in Aerial. I shot her a quick smile and she looked happier than ever ( and she is basically made of happy).

_**Ground team: Max Batchelder-** Yes! I'm a Footer!_ I thought. The Footers are the only ones who do hand to hand combat and move around on the ground. I know I should've kept listening, but the exitment made my mind go crazy. I was only able to catch the last name:_** and Fang Ride. Congradulations Ground Team!**_ _I've never heard of that team, _I thought_, Is he that creepy guy that allways sits at his own table and stares at the wall? well, i guess we'll see._

I meet Ella outside the Mess Hall and she squeels. we then go back to our dorm to pack our few clothes. soon she finishes all her ramblings about boys and goes to sleep. I have only enough time to wonder what kind of mutant Fang is, since they usualy only let mutants in the Ground Team, and then i fell asleep.

_In my dream, I see the creepy kid, Fang, but today I sit next to him at his deserted table. but when I look at the wall, instead of the grey of the mealroom, I see a battlefield strewn with bodies. Tears well up when I see one of them is Iggy. I get up and walk over to were he lay. I feel His pulse: dead._

_But instead of cold malice, i feel only sadness._

**pwease review! sorry about the shortness and yess, i did mean to spell aerial like thiss.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter**** 3**

_**Ground Team trainees to port twenty-six B.**_

"That's me." I said to Ella. at that a new wave of tears came. She had been crying all morning and hugging everyone in sight. she reached over and gave me a bear hug.

"Max?" she said as she pulled away, suddenly looking very serious.

"Yes?", i reply. i wonder what she will ask, and am suprised when she says: "woop 'em all and show absolutly no mercy." it's such an un-ella thing to say (more max-ish) that i hug her again and say "you too, ella. and be carefull." into her hair.

I plop down on my seat and I shove my duffle into it's spot. Taking a look around, I mentaly try to guess who's what ( meaning what kind of mutant). _...fish, cat, lizard, lizard, monkey?..._then i spot him. Fang Ride, the creepy kid. his dark hair and emotionless, reserved demeanor intrigues me in a way that makes me get up and sit next to him. he remanes silently staring at the wall of our feild aircraft that will take us from the placement training facility to our desegnated team's official training center.

after a long pause i ask " so, what are you?" a question that has been gnawing at me since i heard his name on the speaker.

he looks over at me and the only slightest trace of shock can be depicted from his face. "what are you?" he says in a deep voice after taking a quick look around.

" Avian. you know, wings, raptor vision, the works." i say and he only nods.

we soon land and are escorted to the arena like yard in which we show off our skills. unlike the final exams where it is private, this is where we show off to the rest of the team. I of course am the only avian so this should be fun.

"Max batchelder." the bored looking supervisor says. I'm up!

the group of training erasers attack me. adrenalen rushes through me and I punch, kick and flip them all to the ground before i can even see the timer strike thirty seconds. then the next wave comes . the flying erasers come at me as i leap into the air, snap out my wings and hear each and every one of my audience gasp exept for maybe fang. I grin and pumble them to a pulp. here comes round three: the flyboys. these are robotic flying erasers. I kick them in their sweetspot in the tail bone area that jeb taught me and they start dropping. before I know it the supervisor says well done and calls the next name.

"Fang Ride." the man calls he steps up and the erasers come out. he moves so fast, but not as fast as i guess i was because it took him a whole minute to get 'em all down. then there comes the flying erasers. and to my suprise he shoots up into the air and whips out his own set of wings as dark as the night. they are extremely powerfull as he zips nimbly from eraser to eraser as they drop like stone. his face rmains calm and unreadable, but I can tell by the way he moves that he has something against his apponents. he doesn't aim to debilitate, he aims to hurt them just enough for his own satisfaction without getting into trouble.

and i realise that he would be a perfect partner for my quest.

**dramatic right? sorry it is just that I need you to keep reading and tell ur friends cause if you don't comment theen i wont update and you'll be on the edge of ur seats till the day you die! ohh and please exuse the shortness. it looks bigger in this wittle box ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

the supervisor leads us down the hallway to our dorms. i walk next to fang. " why didnt you tell me?" i ask and he shrugs. " here are the girls quarters," the man says. "you will each get your own dorm. you each get to pick which one is yours. maximum batchelder, you go first" i go down the hall and glance into each room untill i see one with a layout almost just like my house.

" this one, i want this room.' i say. he nods like he knew that would be the one i'd pick and gives me an access card from the very top of the pile. i stand in the doorway untill all the other girls have picked their rooms and the boys have moved on. as he leaves, i lock eyes with fang and give a small nod. ever so slightly he nods back and i know he and i will be a team.

I walk around my dorm which consists of a full bathroom, dining room, and bedroom. the more i look, the more i realize it is an exact replica of my old house, if you cut out all the other rooms. it even smells like my mom's favorite juniper candles. the only thing missing is the pictures of Iggy, all of us together, and now that i'm gone, me.

I hear a ding from the kitchen and walk in on a hot plate piled high with food, and on the top of it's plastic casing, is a note. i pick it up, feeling its hard edges against my fingers, determined to read it before i indulge in the not-so-delicious military food. I take a deep breath.

_Maximum Batchelder,_

_we would like to inform you that all messages will be delivered during mealtimes. your schedule will be given every morning. **today's schedule:** _

_12:30-1:15- mealtime_

_1:30-3:45- female ground team meeting room 317 A_

_4:00-5:00- rest time ( this should be used for rest before meals, or free actions within your desegnated dorm)_

_5:00-5:45- mealtime_

_6:15-8:30- training at area 49 Q_

_9:00-6:30- curfew_

I then bend over the plate and eat every scrap only to find another plate waiting. three plates later, the clock says 1:14 and i rush to the closet in my room to put on my grey pants, white tank, and a grey T-shirt with the Force seal across the back and on the breast pocket. i grab the guide port and follow the directions to room 317 B.

" you are called here this monday to discuss your further time here at Ground Team Advanced Training Center. the first matter is to become as aquainted as well as possible with your fellow team members, for the more you know about your team, the better you work together." the female major says, " i am like your principal, im the head mistress to the female part of this boarding school. I am the person you go to if you have any problems..." she had said when she introduced herself. now she is explaining the expectations of our behavior, "... also, you are to never enter another trainees dorm, if communications outside of desegnated public time is needed, you cand send messages that will be recieved at the next meal time." the meeting continues on, and we leave at exactly 3:45

when i get back to my room, i read one of the books from the shelf in my room, an extreemly old one from the twentieth/twenty-first century called the hunger games. I am through half of it by mealtime, and see afolded peice of paper on the tray cover

_Maximum,_

_meet me here:_

_~Fang_

a suspiciously well drawn map of the hallway with an arrow going through is drawn on a small scrap of paper and I scarf down but three of my five plates and run to it's coordinates and burst through the final door. the brisk night air is cool, and I sit and wait for fang to come. I know exactly what he has called me here, but since mealtime is over in about fifteen minutes, I snap out my wings and fly up only but twenty feet, before i feel a sharp, paralizing pain as I come crashing down and everything goes black.

**hope you liked it! peace out and plz plz PLZ R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Cha****pte****r 5**

i wake to see fang sitting next to me, waiting for me to become concious. "what the heck..." i start.

"theres a force feild at about twenty-five feet," he says and points up "you should be fine, you just got zapped a little," he says.

I sit up. "your awful chatty today, whats up?" i say.

he shrugs.

"so, arent you gonna tell me how you got here?"

" you first," he says

" fine," i sigh, "well i have two sisters; angel who is six and nudge who is eleven, and two brothers; gazzy who is eight and Iggy who is fifteen. Iggy went into battle two years ago, then he went MIA. I've made it my mission to find him, and now that i'm here, i know that i cant go it alone so... never mind."i blush, "any ways thats all you really need to know about me. and please, call me Max, not maximum."

he nods and looks away, i'm about to remind him that it is his turn when he says, "I was a runaway. when the school used to have us in cages, I got out. soon i was taken in by a family, but when i turned thirteen, i ran again. the military took me back two years later, and now i'm here. I've hated every second of it." theres the slightest twitch in his jaw.

"why? don't you want to fight for our country's freedom?" i say, utterly shocked.

he remains silent, and a gust of cool wind blows in my face. I realize something and look at my watch. "crap! im about to be late for training! see ya fang!" i call and rush to the door, back tracking my way to my dorm and grabbing the GPS port from the wall. as i leave i can only think that he can't have been telling the whole truth. I then rush to area 49 Q and actually end up early.

" locker rooms are over there" the man with a clipboard says as i approach. I walk in the direction he pointed toward and enter the girl's area. i change into some black shorts and a tee. when the bell rings i go outside into the lush green grass that smells so fresh you could almost taste it and a tabel with three large items shrouded with a cloth. this should be fun.

" welcome to weponry. throughout your training here, you will learn how to use each of these:" he says and lifts the sheet from the table. on it is a knife, a machine gun, and a bow and arrow "you will learn how to use each of them, but today, you will choose which one will be your main wepon." he says and starts calling up people

when he gets to me, I choose the bow and arrow. I look around and see that im the only one who chose the bow and arrow. well, me and fang.

"now you will split into three groups. gunners over here, knifes with sergent willson, and bows and arrows with major davidson."

" okay guys, lets get started"

**hi, i was just so excited to do this chapter, i got started asap! pwease review and excuse spelling!**


	6. A TRIBUTE TO MAX RIDE

**A TRIBUTE TO MAXIMUM RIDE**

**id like to take this moment to say max, throughout all her adventures has shown me things. she's shown me how to be strong, and to love your family till the end. she's taught me how to stick things out, and she has shown me a life that ive allways been stuck between jealous of, and wanting to make it better, because no one should_ ever_ have to go through any of what she had to.**

**most of all ,though, she has taught me, you, all of us, that life is not what we think it is, she has opened our eyes to the true horrible greed, the real pain that the real world can dish out to you, and shes most deffinetly taught us to no matter what, never give up trying to keep your family and your will through it all, you hear me?**

**DO NOT LET HER LAST WORDS GO TO WAIST! BECAUSE WE CAN AND WILL BE THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD! its the KIDS that determine what happens next, let all of us let max's words stay with us so that we think about what can happen if things get out of hand, if the world gets plunged into darkness, well we cant let that even start, we cant nurse a severed arm by putting on a bandage, you must keep yourself from sticking it in the chipper on the first place, wha good is watering the plant, cleaning the fishbowl, when both are already dead?**

**i'd like to end on this note: though her story ma have ended, they are forever engraved in our minds, our hearts, our souls, and her words will hopefully follow us untill the day we die, and her adventures have affected us! let us hold her and her family with us forever!**

**THANK YOU JAMES PATTERSON FOR GIVING US MAX RIDE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**so sorry it took so long! dont hate me, it makes me feel small! im thirteen and not even 5 ft tall yet so that is mean! time fow a Quick Contest (QC) okay i am writing an actual original book and whoever can come up with a great name for a certain character can read it and say "i chose that name" and feel pretty awesome, so here is his description: secluded, black hair and DARK green eyes (almost black), he is not too tan but the opposite of pasty not really fang-like, he expresses much more emotions and is a great artist, he was also born in ireland, but was raised by american parents so no irish slang or watever. ready set GO!**

fang's arrows must be rigged, he keeps on getting good shots! while I, ms. can-do-anything is stuck over here shooting halfway across the field and not even sticking them in the target! every time it misses i get more frusterated and shoot more carelessly, which just sets me more on edge.

i take a moment to calm down. i observe fang's fluid moves as his dark mysterious eyes focus on a point just above the center. he draws back the shaft painfully slowly, and makes sure the string is tight. he then lets his hand drop ad with a thwip the pointed wooden stick embeds itself in the center of the red dot.

I try to recreate his moves _draw back slowly...focus...deep breath aaaaand._

_Thwip_

_yes! wait a minute..._ i see my arrow has only speared the outer ring, while fang's has escaped the arched wooden frame, but instead of on his target, it hit mine. dead center.

"show off." i mutter and he quirks his mouth into a grin. this makes my stomach flutter for some reason, and i ponder on the feeling. i release my gaze from his irises and get back to shooting. the next one lands an inch to the right of his. i whip around and grin at our coach like a six year old. i feel espcially glad because it embeded itself deeper, meaning a more instantanious kill.

i get an idea and pull my arrow out of the thick cloth. i slowly load the bow as I move behind fang, next to the targets.i stand ten feet back and repeat my other steps, but this time the target isnt a big red dot.

it seems to happen in slow motion, like, instead of "thwip" it was "tttthhhhhhhhhwwwwwiiiiiiiiii iip." the strain on the bowstring disappears as the arrow soars, narrowly missing the one fag loosed at the same time. it aproaches his arrow that intrudes on my circular wooden block and with a grack, snaps it in half. everyone looks at me in disbelief, and i stand back with my arms crossed like a cakemaker decidedly happy with her work.

"better luck next time buddy," i say to fang and walk out of the arena thirty seconds before we are dismissed

**time lapse, woo~oo~oo~oo~ooo**

i sit in the lounge room of my dorm and think of him. his hands lead me through the mist, his lhis eyes are a void that calls me inack of expression makes me curious, and his eyes are a void that calls me in. i shake the thoughts from my head as i try to focus on my strategy homework. no matter how long a war, homework will always be children's number one enemy. im almost done when an explosion rocks the academy. i open my front door and can only see haze. i hear all of my neighbors coughing. one of them souns deeper though, but strangely familliar.

"max! oh thank god your okay!" fang grabs my shoulder and i stiffen, what has gotten into him?

"yeah, why?"

"an explosion went off in the science lab on the floor below us. it was directly under your room max." he says softly

i stand there practically choking on smoke. just when i think he is going to leave, he leans down...

**suspense alert! bwoop bwoop! what do you think will happen, cause its not what you think! *snickers* jk jk, or am I?**

**also, there is a sad little blue button down there that never gets pushed, and its best friend a typing box that is equally depressed, for it ever gets typed in. would you like to work at mcdonalds if no one came in to buy food? push it and type in its friend!**


	8. help mees on mah book!

**hai dere peeplse. i am using these in mah book and i rly rly rly love them bofe so plz dont steal them!**

**Quote not from me:**

**"we are all just a heartbeat away from death, allways have been, always will be."**

**~ Dr. Glass, Falling Skies**

**before you read this, imagine the yin/yang simbol, with the two teardrops that form a circle and the black dot in the white side as well as a white dot in the black. this will be different though, because instead of just borring old white, it will be a sunset with a black circle in the middle, and the night sky with the moon as the white spot.**

**"the black dot at the center of the sun represents the darkness which cannot exist without the imense light. While the night is suprisingly more truthful, for its light doesn't hide like the darkness within the sun, but instead brings a feeling of hope to he dark landscape telling us that the sun will soon rise again. like pandora's box, the dark horrors are chosen to be focused on instead of the beautiful feeling also released. But now the saddest thing of all is that we can no longer tell yin from yang, for the light seems to be hiding a dark shroud that can be more dangerous than the unprotected darkness of night."**

**too sappy, wierd? good or bad? me need reviews, i see ive gotten like two hundred views, but noooooo, no one can take five seconds out of their time to write a quick message which im happy with if it only consists of one WORD! da button calls youuuuuu woosshhhh**


	9. Chapter 9

**Im back, you miss me? no? *bawls***

**army dude: "bawls are for popcorn and men (el HOMBRE), not independant young, beautiful writers like yourself"**

**"why thank you!"**

he grabs my shoulder with one of his hands and leans in, and the next thing i feel is an imense pain in the back of my head. i see fang mouth "i'm sorry" and i then black out.

**im a time skip line so, like, WOoOooooOoOOOooooOooshHHhHHH , and stuff.**

I wake up in the infermary with a cool towel pressed to my head. i get up, but have to sit back down from dizziness. all i remember is going to the door after the "boom!" and then there is only darkness.

"hey, are you okay?" a voice calls from across the small room in a chair. fang

"yeah, my head hurts, what happened?"

"there was a bomb below you and your roof colapsed in a little. they fixed it fast, they just had to wait for you to wake up."

"how...long was i out?" i ask

"about two days, but it is okay, now, your fine."

"someones talkitive today."

he sruggs, aaaand back to silence.

he walks over to a small bucket of water and retrieves a cloth. he wrings it out and changes the one on my head. as his hand brushes my hair, i remember something. him mouthing "im sorry" and i feel suspicion flash across my face. the memory isnt there for long, for he then dips his head down, his eyes resting on mine before i close mine and kisses **(blech, hate that word: kisssehehehss bldmbje)** me. my brain goes from: O to: . as he presses one hand on the slowly dripping towel and another on my waist. I loop my asrms around his neck and feel us pressing together.

_max, stop! this is not you, your super max not sappy max! break. away. he is probably just using you!_

my eyebrows raise at the thought and i pull away.

"fang, im, uh, tired. am i allowed to sleep a bit longer?" i ask

he nods and i climb into the cot and drift into a restless sleep.

**hewo, im mr. line, what is your name?**

three weeks later, i wake up with a scream, and curl into a ball. its that awefull dream again, where fang and i are together in a meadow and everything seems perfect, until he tries to kiss me, and everywhere he touches there is only pain. he breaks away and i would see him looking like some demon. i would then realise that i was strapped to the wall, and would loo down to see "fang's" writen on my neck and three blades stuck through my stomach and each lung. i would look up and see fang standing there with another sword as he stabs it straight through my heart...

i realise that i am hyperventilating** (Is cant spel so DEEL WITH IT!)** and try to calm myself. there is a knock at the door and fang walks in

speaking of the devil.

"hey," i say but my voice cracks.

"you okay?" he says and i nod.

"bad dream."

"wanna talk about it?"

"it was...about you." i say before i could stop myself.

his face falls. "oh, what was my role?"

"demon killer" i blurt mentally face-palming myself

"that bad?" he chuckles. and sees that im curled up in the corner of the bed, far away from where he sits.

"the night mare me isnt the real me, max, the real me is right here." he says and places a hand on my shoulder. I wince andyelp as the motion somehow disturbs my wound.

"fang, can you, uh, stay here? until i fall asleep i mean." i whisper _what is wrong with me? i should be scared of him, and then i invite him to my dorm at night! he is really sweet..._

ugh! it was like everything in me was telling me to kiss him, punch him, and run from him all at the same time! well, im determined to get this dream crap over with, so i mentaly pull up my big girl panties and look at him.

"sure," he says and pulls me toward him. i curl up against him and close my eyes.

"I know."

"hmm?" he says, runing his hand through my hair.

"I said I know that the real you is out here and your nothing like the one in the dream."

"good." he squeezes me a little and I fall asleep

I am soon awoken by a cold emptiness next to me and i know that he left. then I notice a folded scrap of parchment in the covers. delicately i open it to see fang's hasty, but somehow elegant penmanship.

_I have a secret, and i wish I could tell it, and i will._

_but only if you agree to leave with me, after we finnish bow and arrow training_

_~F_

Well, I guess I'm getting no sleep tonight.

**love it? hate it? i dont care if god himself is telling you not to review this story, just do it, even if it is just to say "6"**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm back! sorry for da wait!**

The next week we re able to shoot moving targets and shoot things while moving. They even took us to a forest simulation and i killed four birds, two squirrels, a deer, and a Buck. I scurry back from dinner an hour before curfew. I scramble to pack a few necessities. Some pants, shorts, t-shirts, tanks, underwear, and two pairs of shoes. I grab one of the cool packs to put some food in. sometimes they take kids out to the forest for practice.

I push two of the devices attatched to Fang's note to the packs. I sling them on and rush out the door to the roof.

He is sitting on the edge. turning, he spots me and walks toward me

**Fang's POV**

I wait for her on the roof. _should i really tell her? what if she is too brainwashed? what if she hates me?_ I think panicedly. I hear the door open and see Max standing there. I start toward her. Here goes nothing.

"Max, I need to talk to you about something."

"what is it?"

"you've been on the wrong side this whole time." I blurt.

"what do you mean?"

"I mean..."

"spit it out." she screws her face into a scowl crossed with a pout.

"this war. It isn't what you think it is. its about how all the other countries find it inhumane to trap kids in cages and preform painfull experements on them" I wince at this.

"but we don't anymore!" she says " that stooped years ago! I would know! I was freed only four years ago!"

" No, max, that is what they want you to think. this whole training buisness was a way for them to test our skills. they aren't going to take us to war, max, they are going to put us back in cages"

**Max's POV**

" NO!" I screech. Cages? I can't go back to the school! this has to be a trick!

"That is why they only put mutants on ground team." he says. suddenly a thought occurs.

"my brother! Did they take him?" I ask.

"What is his name?"

"Iggy Martinez" I say, hoping with all my soul.

"Oh, he was brought in two years ago. he is safe" I sigh "he is tall and blonde, right?"

I nod and smile. "take me to him."

"exsactly why I'm taking you with me back to our camp." he says. My heart swells. I'm going to see my brother again! "but you're going to need this, and these" he pulls out my bow and quiver full of arrows. "and the second bag won't be needed."

"but we need food." I retort

"that is what those are for" he nods toward my archery set. we were going to eat animals? "plus, we are flying there"

"but, the Afrocentric field. We can't get through it, remember?"

"of course we can" he pulls out three square divices. He places them far apart from each other on the force field. Two are about seventeen feet from the other, while the other connects them into a triangle with about two feet in height. the electric wall scourges and collapses in that space. Fang grins.

soon we are flying through the night, over treetops, touching clouds. It is simply amazing! I've never flown over a forest so dense and natural as this one before! I start getting hungry and pull the bow out and an arrow. I shoot a rabbit and some odd raccoon like creature. The only difference is that it has no tail and is brown. We eat and sett off again. Eventually it is daytime and fang tells us we should land.

we find a slightly damp cave to sleep in. Fang says we have to stop during the day because they send out air troopers to check for threats. I ask how fare we have flown.

"about seven hundred miles." He says, pulling some cloth from his pack. " we have at least twice that to go"

" what is that for?" I ask pointing to the cloth in his hands.

it gets cold this north at night you know max." He chuckles. " but I have this thick blanket to keep us warm."

"us? Don't you have two?"

" no, we have to share. It would be too heavy and body heat I will keep us warmer." He says. "Survival 101 max"

"fine" I say and climb in next to him. I settle into his shoulder and he spreads his wings beneath me, encompassing me in a warmth that fends off the brisk cold I was already starting to feel. My wings must have been so guys'll of adrenaline and must have been working so hard that I hadn't noticed it earlier.

soon I fall into a soundless sleep, unable to stop thinking or dreaming about finally getting to see my blind bigger brother again.


End file.
